#winxposting

- an alternate season 4 where the winx go to earth not to make people believe in magic/track down roxy but because faragonda is getting readings of strange spikes of magical activity in a small city on earth called heatherfield and wants the girls to see what could possibly be causing magic surges on a magicless planet

- maybe during book of the elements arc? since the literal elements were going nuts that’ll fr cause an energy spike, plus the kandrakar portal getting used daily

- they end up undercover as new students in sheffield institute looking for the magic signature of the heart of kandrakar

- bump into w.i.t.c.h. and they have that “i’m just like you, you’re just like me” moment

- at this moment w.i.t.c.h. are way in over their heads w the elements and dark mother so even if the winx completed their mission of finding out what was up in heatherfield they decide to stay

- IMAGINE THE BONDING

Feeding the masses by giving my own two cents about Driven. Some of the Riven stuff may seem esoteric — I’m afraid I have a semi-fleshed out backstory for Riven that is absolutely not in the canon and I have not shared with the class yet.

The most important one for me — Darcy is taller than Riven. It’s not too noticeable because of Riven’s hair, but he’s a good 5 inches shorter than Darcy. In my heart he’s a short king (with small man syndrome) and she’s the tallest member of the Trix. He wears Cuban heels whilst she tends to wear flats to even it out (she towers over Stormy way too much if she wears heels and Icy says it throws off their ‘visual equilibrium’).

Darcy isn’t typically into muscles, but well… on Riven it certainly doesn’t hurt. She regrets that Riven doesn’t have any real magical ability because she can sense the pulse of his anger and bitterness and disillusionment in his unique impression on the universe. If he could only harness that energy… She likes his muscles because it almost makes up for his lack of magical outlet, reassures her that he can handle himself well enough on his own and that all of that energy is being focused elsewhere.

For very similar reasons, Riven likes the deception of Darcy’s slender figure. Witches, as a rule, especially very powerful witches, tend to struggle holding onto fat as they have to draw on their own inner life and energy to conjure their magic. As a consequence they always tend to look a little gaunt and struggle building muscle. Riven enjoys holding Darcy, feeling how light she feels beneath his rough hands and knowing that she could melt his mind to mush in less time than it would take for him to squeeze.

After the incident in 1x09, Driven no longer hang around very much in witch cafes (but then also wouldn’t be caught dead in any fairy establishments… except that one time they went to that lovely tea shop near Alfea and was cursed out by the Fairy of Benevolence). They’d much rather go to the neutral cafes and, once Riven has his eighteenth, bars

When Darcy linked her mind to Riven’s she also linked his mind to her’s as a sign of trust. She put a portion of thoughts and memories into the link as a gesture of goodwill for him to access if he wished. Just proof of her attraction, moments with her sisters, an accident in Griffin’s seminar etc. It made Riven a lot less insecure about opening up with Darcy. Eventually, he even sends back a few of his own.

Darcy likes to tease Riven about him liking older witches. When they first started dating, he was far too sensitive for any kind of prodding and poking (he’s still not too sure about her sisters), but as their trust built, he not only began to enjoy her teasing but reciprocated. To outsiders it can even seem as though they don’t like each other, the shots they’ll take. They both know the areas to avoid (for Riven: his mother, his reasons for joining RF a year later than most, his social status; for Darcy: her sisters (within reason), the situation of her home planet, interdimensional politics), but other than that height, age, skill on wind riders? It’s all free real estate. Darcy’s only a year older than Riven, but she used to enjoy the way he’d get overly defensive about the age gap and now she enjoys even more the way he turns around and calls her a cougar.

They both steal clothes off of each other. It’s not uncommon for Riven to wander into the specialist common room wearing one of Darcy’s purple crop tops, or a sweater pulled tight around his pecs. Equally, Icy and Stormy are certain that that windrider jacket wasn’t one of Darcy’s. She loves to steal his athletic gear — she wears it casually around the Trix’s dorm or when she’s out and about riding on her windrider.

They absolutely race each other. I recognise Ignio Straffi’s attempt to make Riven’s type tom boys with Darcy being a racer and then Musa having a similar style. Now that I’ve recognised it I can discard it. Riven likes competition. Specifically, healthy competition. It’s something Sky just doesn’t get when they spar — Sky thinks Riven’s being overly aggressive; Riven thinks Sky is being a stuck up ass. As a consequence, he’s never allowed to give his all, to cast off the veneer of the gentleman cavalier and actually fight — to prove himself as worthy of his new title and rank. But Darcy… from the beginning she was more than happy to leave him in the dust, to make him chase her and be chased in return, to trip him over with a barely-legal move but, at the end of it, stop and help him back up. To clean out his eye after she’s thrown gravel in it. She’s the competitor he’s always wanted and he’s the edge she’s never been able to coax out of others without a little… persuasion.

But then this approach fails when she places the responsibility for telling Bloom who she is on Avalon (although I cannot remember whether she actually knows that Avalon is 'showing her her past' AKA grooming Bloom). Bloom falling out of Faragonda's immediate thinking is exactly what leads to Dark Bloom because Faragonda hasn't clocked any of the warning signs that Bloom is in danger (such as spending increased amounts of time with Avalon, fighting with her boyfriend, being more distant with the girls). AND THIS IS SUCH A GOOD MISTAKE FOR FARAGONDA!! Because she has so much more to concentrate on in S2, like the fact that one of the most dangerous threats to the Magical Dimension has resurfaced, whom she knows will want the Codex' of the three magical schools and Pixie Village (and now is really such a convenient time for there to be pixies in Alfea, as though the political climate was not rough enough she needs these seventeen year olds to babysit political hostages) and will then focus his attention on Bloom, she has to try and organise some kind of defence against Darkar AND she's got a school to run (and the Winx are fighting amonst themselves). I love that she's doing all of this, in a way, for Bloom, but in doing so ends up neglecting her and letting fall right into the claws of the enemy.

And beyond that, one of my favourite things about Faragonda is how she treats the Winx like what they are: teenage schoolgirls. It is SO refreshing to see an adult actually take charge and responsibility in a show like Winx Club and even rarer to see the girls face consequences to their misbehaviour (regardless of if that misbehaviour is warranted, like their detour to Andros, or just teenage recklessness, such as skipping school to go on a daytrip to Gardenia without telling anybody where they are). Faragonda is a key political figure in the Magical Dimension and holds a LOT of influence, of course she isn't going to disclose the entire truth to a gang of sixteen year old girls who shouldn't be involved in these messes in the first place. AHHHHHHH SHE'S SO RESPONSIBLE SHE MAKES ME WANT TO BITE SOMETHING!!!!